myTask, hisPurpose

You are a man on task whenever you discover and develop your God-given abilities, and sync them with God’s purpose to strengthen and serve others.

Aren’t you inspired by epic movies of men who live for an extraordinary purpose? When they sacrifice personal safety and comfort for the benefit of others?

Read this charge given by the Baron of Ibelin (a castle near Jerusalem in the days of the Crusaders) from the film Kingdom of Heaven, a fictionalized account of the Third Crusade. He gave this charge to his son, Balian, just before he died from a wound he received while saving his son’s life:

“Be without fear in the face of your enemy. Be brave and upright because God loves you. Speak the truth always even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath.”

Balian went on to become a great leader because of his father’s sacrifice.

Such words inspire us. They remind us that men live life best when they live for God and for others. Living this way is not our default setting. Unless we are intentional, we will live for “me, myself, and I,” and no one else.

Author C. S. Lewis wrote, “Die before you die. There is no chance after.” * Dying to the desire to please oneself first and to the exclusion of everything else is what God means by “die.” It’s not a physical death, but a choice to live for the well-being of others. Your true life is found in being others-centered instead of being self-centered and self-absorbed. You are most alive inside when you walk with God and when you serve others well. Great men live for a special task that demands much sacrifice. In sacrifice, they find great satisfaction because they have lived for Jesus first, others second, and themselves last.

The remarkable truth is that when you die to selfishness, walk with God, and serve others well, you become fully alive. Satan wants you to be afraid of the word sacrifice. He wants to bring images of pain and scarcity to your mind. It will certainly include some pain and trouble. A sacrifice has to include some actual sacrifice. In the sacrifice is where you find true, real, full life! Don’t recoil from sacrifice.

God has a divine task for you. It will require you to sacrifice on behalf of others. When you sacrifice for God’s purposes, you gain everything!

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* C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmanns, 1976), 279.